a) Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with a machine for cutting concrete blocks, especially continuously molded, highway dividing barriers of the New Jersey type, although the invention must not be interpreted as being restricted to the cutting of such barriers exclusively.
b) Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is of common practice to use barriers in the form of elongated blocks of concrete to divide the ways that are in opposite directions in highways, especially urban highways. It is also of common practice to use such blocks on one or both sides of roads or highways, in order to delimit the same.
It has recently been suggested to mold such highway dividing barriers in situ, the resulting barrier in the form of continuous elongated block of concrete of constant cross-section.
Because of the climatic conditions especially in countries like Canada and the Northern part of the United States that may undergo substantial temperature changes, it is necessary to cut the continuous barriers at given intervals after they have been molded in situ in order to form expansion joints. This must of course be done as fast as possible, especially in busy highways, in order to reduce as much as possible traffic jams.